I got a chance to see the NBC TV movie "Submerged" last night, not a bad flic, considering that it was a TV movie and I don't know if it was shown in theatres.

This movie is about the story of the USS Squalus, a pre-war US fleetboat that sank and and rescue efforts trying to help the downed sailors inside the sub. They aired a French version of the film on TV, fortunately, I was able to understand!

Well, here's where I got the twist, instead of hoping to see a WWII fleetboat in action, I saw the exact same S-boat used in the filming of U-571! For those who saw U-571, you may remember the sub used by the American sailors to board the U-boat, the converted S-boat to a U-boat look-alike. This was the boat used as the set for filming "Submerged" (actually, I think that the inside compartments were filmed in a studio, not the boat). Well, if you ignored the fact that the submarine wasn't right, you can at least say the movie was quite historically acurrate unlike U-571.

The filmakers included characters such as Charles Momsen, one of the people who contributed to the construction of the McCann Resue chamber, a diving bell that was used to rescue the sailors of the Squalus. The Squalus's sister USS Sculpin, and the converted WWI minesweeper, The Falcon who aided in the finding of the downed Squalus and which were also used to add to the historical data.

Now here are the "interesting" facts that I have gathered concerning this movie:

-The sub used in was the S-boat from U-571-The movie included.... surprinsingly, shots from U-571! Showing the U-boat diving, and other U-571 CGIs (that;s right, I said U-boat!)-The sub used in the movie to represent USS Sculpin was same one used to represent the Squalus, the same S-boat with a different number on the conning tower.-the fact that when seeing this movie, I almost felt that it was U-571 all over again but with a different crew!

Once I ignored these facts, I quite enjoyed the movie and some really cool shots of the S-boat cruising at full speed in the water, never seen in U-571. This was a TV movie, not a major hollywood movie, perhaps the filmakers couldn't come up with the money to make a full-sized fleetboat sub, and that's why they used the sub in U-571..

Aww, so they blew my chances to see a fleetboat in action, but who cares? I think it was worth sitting 2 hours in front of the TV!

Ok enough said, I got some pictures from one of site who reviewed U-571, you can see the S-boat they used in the movie. Bottom illustration.

The U-boat used in U-571....isn't she beautiful! Jonathan Mostow Photo

Hum, looks like something you'd see in one of the U-boat docks...

If you have seen "Submerged", feel free to join this discussion!

Nemo out.

280 meters.... and she's still in one piece! -Jurgen Prochnow, Das Boot.